Light Up the Night
by Alice-the-irish-dancer
Summary: Nothing seemed to be going right for Karen after Ivy got the roll of Marilyn, but following an 'accident' in the last rehearsal, a snarky director might provide just the silver lining that Karen has needed. KarenXDerek
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Smash! or any of the characters. I am not making any money off of this! _

_A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at a Smash! fic, let me know what you think! : ) _

"AGAIN!" The voice echoed through the studio. The panting cast moved back to their starting marks to begin the song again.

It seemed like a broken record, again, again, again… She thought that she would have been used to it by now, but even Derek's quasi attractive British accent was beginning to grate on her.

"KAREN!"

Her head shot up as she realized that she had missed her cue to enter the song. She stepped forward.  
>"Do we have a problem, Karen?" Derek asked giving her the once over with a critical eye<p>

"No, no sorry, I lost focus." She said quietly, blushing as the group turned to look at her.

"That much was apparent, be sure it doesn't happy again. SAM! Music!" He called. Karen backed into her place, and adverted her eyes from Ivy's satisfied smirk at Derek's harsh criticism. As much as she disliked the public humiliation of being singled out by Derek, she knew he was only doing it to make her better. He wouldn't be such a successful director and he didn't know what he was doing. Well, that was what she was telling herself at least.

This time as the music started, Karen was careful to listen for her 8 count that she entered on. After Ivy's perpetual whining about how grating the ensemble (aka Karen) was, she had been shifted to the back line for the majority of the number, only coming forward for the last 6 beats.

Ivy had been nasty to her since before she got Marilyn, but Karen had tried to avoid her. Now, acting in the same show, it was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid her. If anything went wrong in rehearsals, Ivy found a way to blame Karen. At least she was consistent.

Karen cleared her thoughts as she came into the end sequence.

Kick-two-three-four, slide down, step, and turn, slid-, but her thoughts were cut off as she felt a heavy, sharp object collide with her ankle. She cried out as it gave out from under her. She fell, most ungracefully she might add, to the ground, only looking up to see a crowd forming around her with Ivy smirking down at her once again. At this point Karen was absolutely sure that her face was permanently stuck like that. A strong throb in her right ankle brought her attention away from the blond's face and back to her slowly swelling ankle.

"Alright, everyone let's back it up." Tom called as he made his way toward her with Derek and Julia in tow.

"Looks like someone isn't even capable of handling a simple ensemble part hmmm?" Ivy chimed in as she took a few steps back with the rest of the cast. "Maybe she just needs to-"

"That will be quite enough, Ivy." Derek said coldly, Ivy sputtered momentarily, but she quickly disguised it with a look of disgust.

Derek kneeled down in front of Karen to view the ankle which she was currently clutching. Her eyes were clenched tight trying to hide her growing pain.

"Let me see, Karen." He said calmly, she just bit her lip and clutched her ankle even tighter.

"Oh for god's sake, let me see." He said. She was sure that he intended for the remark to have much more of a bite than it did. He pried her hands away with surprisingly gentle hands. Julia kneeled down to join him. Derek prodded the discolored joint slightly and she hissed in pain.

"It might be fractured." He said turning toward Julia, "We'll need to get her to the ER and have it looked at."

"No, I'm fine! I don't need to go to the hospital; it's probably just a strain." Karen said quickly, eyes flashing between Julia and Derek.

"Karen, I think I'll have to agree with Derek on this one." Tom said, with a grimace, looking at her foot, "That is a nasty looking sprain you've got; you need to get it checked out." Karen groaned. Tom would never agree with Derek unless it was _absolutely_ necessary, and even then he would try to find a way to disagree if he could.

"Fine, I'll go." She said shaking her head slightly. She avoided looking to Ivy, who was surely smirking at her misfortune once again. She resisted a strong urge to glare back at the girl, knowing no one else had noticed the real reason for her fall. She gritted her teeth thinking back to the fall. When Karen slid forward to her spot on the floor, Ivy had forgotten her choreography and stepped back directly onto Karen's ankle causing it to bend in a most unnatural position. Of course, Ivy would never fess up to it. Karen had come to the conclusion that Ivy would always get her way. After she left, she was sure Ivy would blame the fall on Karen's bad fitness or lack of dancing ability. Her only consolation was that at least a few of the ensemble members could see through Ivy's lies, and a longing hope that karma would eventually come back and bite Ivy in the butt.

"Can you walk?" A voice asked. She glanced up to see Derek waiting for a reply.

"Umm, I think so." She replied hastily, shifting her weight and attempting to stand. She pushed up to but the pressure was too much and her ankle gave way in protest. She cried out and grabbed her ankle again. She felt a pair of strong arms slide under her legs and behind her back and lift her from the ground with no words of warning. Her eyes widened when found that Derek was the one that held her. For a moment, she saw a flash of emotion in his eyes, it almost looked like… sympathy, but suddenly he turned to Julia and it was gone.

"I'll take her to NYU ER; continue with the rehearsal, I'll let you know how things go." He said before turning and walking out of the door to the studio toward the elevator.

Karen and Derek traveled in relative silence as they exited the building to a line of cabs. Luckily a few of the cabs have found that around 1:00 every day, a throng of starved performers flooded out of the studio looking for a taxi to a restaurant. Derek stepped up toward the first cab in the line and the driver jumped out to open the door for him.

"See we've had an injury here, eh?" he commented in a heavy northern accent. "I take it we'll be going to the NYU, it's the closest hospital from here." He said, as Derek slid her into the seat.

"Yes, that would be acceptable," Derek said to the driver, before turning his attention back to Karen "You need to keep that foot up." He said, shutting the door before she could respond. Classic Derek, giving commands even after hours.

Karen had to admit though; she had been mildly impressed by Derek's strength as he was carrying her down the elevator. Not once had he faltered or slowed under the extra weight. She had never noticed his build before; she assumed that his harsh criticism and cold demeanor had prevented her seeing anything but an egotistical director. But now looking though the badly tinted window of the cab, she could see an attractive figure under his standoffish pose. She shook her head.

Karen had always prided herself in her judge of character, but Derek… he was unreadable and it bothered her to no end. He picked on her and pushed exactly the right buttons to provoke a reaction, and what bothered her more is that it seemed he had no problem reading her. But there was something about him though, attracted her. She sighed; she had had to remind herself, just the other day, how much she hated Derek Wills. She hated his cocky, sarcastic remarks and devil-may-care attitude. She hated the way that he looked at her from the corner of his eye during rehearsal when he thought she wasn't watching, and the way he smirked at her each day as she left practice. And most of all she hated the way every smirk made her heart flutter. So, each day after rehearsal as she was walking down the stairs, she told herself why she disliked him, but today, he seemed almost… concerned… caring, and all of her hard work at convincing herself about how much she hated him had gone right down the drain. She mentally slapped herself, she would not let one kind action, one caring touch- _no_, she, she would not fall prey to Derek Wills and his little games; she would make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: _I do not own Smash! or any of the characters. I am not making any money off of this! _

A/N: Oh my gosh! Thanks so much for all the interest! It really makes me so happy and helps me to keep going. :D Thanks so much to everyone who faved or added me to their alert lists, and a big thanks for the reviews from MoonBender, Belligerent-road-pylon , idbeinthefollies, Reeta, EdnRobCougar, chrisfaithalin , ber1719. I know this chapter is shorter, but I'll try to post again midweek.

The slam of the driver's door pulled Karen from her thoughts; she looked over to see Derek opening the door to her left. She made a move to lower her foot from where it was resting on the seat.

"No," he said, "leave it; I told you, it needs to stay elevated." He slid in the seat at her side and carefully lifted her foot to rest in his lap. Karen's eyes widened and she froze, her swollen, discolored ankle was currently resting precariously between Derek's legs, and he didn't even seem to flinch. He leaned up to the cab driver and mumbled something that she missed, before leaning back into the worn leather of the seat. She glanced out the window to her side, quickly recovering her composure.

The cab lurched forward weaved its way into New York's sea of cars. Karen reached down and felt her side pocket for her phone, and groaned as she felt nothing but the cloth of her yoga pants.

Derek looked over at her with an eyebrow raised. Normally she would have been offended at his lack of verbalization, but under her current circumstances, she didn't feel like fighting it.

"My phone," She said with a sigh, "I left it back at the studio. I had put it on the window before that last number." The taxi lurched suddenly as it went over a pot hole. She grit her teeth as she felt her ankle begin to shift, but was surprised to find a hand gently stabilize it. She shifted her eyes to look over at Derek, who still had his hand resting on her foot. His warm palm seemed to dull the throbbing, but it also caused her thoughts to become a muddled mess. '_Stop it, Karen' _She chided herself. It wasn't like she had never felt a man touch her before, but here she was sitting in the back of a dingy cab, acting like a giddy high schooler.

Derek shifted slightly pulling a phone out of his side pocket offering it to her. "Don't you have a man you would like to contact? I'm sure he would be just _devastated_ at your distress." He said appearing to sound disconnected. But there was something hidden behind his words, more than his normal distain; it almost sounded like… jealousy. Karen almost laughed at herself; the pain must be getting to her head. Derek Wills? Jealous? Hell would freeze over.

She looked down at his extended hand with the phone, before meeting his eyes. "Dev and I had a fight. He moved out." She said flatly, "Not that it's any of your business of course." she added quickly. She could have sworn she saw a smirk in his eyes.

"Of course not," He said. The taxi stopped at a red light and the two sat in a stiff silence. "How long ago?" he asked. It was a simple question, but it seemed to strike her right in the core. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. Why did he suddenly care so much? She considered asking him as much, but she thought back to earlier today. To his credit, he had shown her some degree of kindness, more than he ever showed to any of the other ensemble members and in many ways more kind than she had ever seen him be to Ivy.

"It's a simple question, Karen." He said, seeming to read her mind. She continued to look out the window. What was he going to do with the information? Use it as bait in rehearsal? Hold it against her for blackmail? She stole a glance at him, only finding him looking right back. She pretended not to notice.

"If you could bring yourself to stop your obsessive over analysis of every word that came out of my mouth, maybe we could have a civil conversation. That's all I was going for Karen, conversation. Only you could manage to make something so simple into something so enigmatic." Derek said.

There he went again, just when she thought that he might be softening up. She should have known better. Derek was busy looking at his emails on his phone, so he didn't notice when Karen began studying him. Maybe…maybe there was some truth behind his words. Maybe Derek wanted nothing more than to fill the time, but in a business where who you know is as important as your talent, Karen was wary of any questioning from her seemingly cold hearted director. She sighed, Derek had gone out of his way today to help her, the least she could do was answer one question.

"Three weeks." She said. "We got into an argument three weeks ago, just before the start of the workshop. I told him that I didn't get Marilyn. I told him that I got offered an ensemble role instead, and that I had accepted it. He got mad; he said that I didn't need an ensemble role, that I needed a lead. I tried to explain to him that in Broadway any experience is worth it. You don't just go from an unknown to a star. But he didn't understand, and he said he had lost respect for me. I still don't really understand why. I think he had started to get involved with a girl at his job and was looking for an easy out. But right before he left he said, 'I want you to know, you're better than any little chorus girl.'" Karen said, trying her best to maintain her composure. Derek finally raised his gaze from the screen of his phone to meet Karen's eyes.

"He's right you know. You are better than that." He said. Karen looked up at him, her face etched with confusion. She couldn't detect any of his normal sarcasm laced through his words, and his face showed no signs of jest.

"Derek, what th-," But before she could question him, the cab stopped, and Derek was out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: _I do not own Smash! or any of the characters. I am not making any money off of this! _

A/N: Yes yes, I know it has been far too long since I last posted, but school got in the way and I had little inspiration off the last few episodes, but this week's episode was FAB! And I'm back. Again thanks for everyone who has reviewed, fav-ed, or added my story to their alert list.

Before Karen knew what was happening she was being lifted into a wheelchair and brought into the emergency room. She was faintly aware of Derek pushing her in and leaving her by a chair in the waiting room.

"I'll go check you in, be back in a bit." He said, leaving her on her own. She watched as he approached the desk, before she dropped her head in her hands. _'He's right you know. You are better than that.' _His words rang in her head over and over. Could he, just one time, talk to her strait, no riddles or games? She groaned, she really couldn't expect anything less than a cryptic answer from Derek.

"That bad is it?" She heard someone say coming around her. She lifted her head from her hands to see Derek coming to sit in the chair by her side. He was holding a stack of papers.

"Yea, well it certainly isn't getting any better." She said, meaning more than just the growing pain in her ankle. Derek wasn't really one to calm her, if anything it made her more flighty and nervous than before. She had told herself in the past that it was just his demanding personality that made her heart flutter when he came to her in practice, but now she wasn't so sure if that was really the cause. She cleared her thoughts, now was not the time to ponder over those kind of things.

She flinched away when she felt cool fingers wrapping around her wrist. She found herself standing wide eyed back at Derek.

"Jesus Karen, I'm just trying to put on your ID band. Relax, I'm not going to try anything." he said, her heart was still pounding in her chest as he gently clasped the plastic hospital band around her wrist. He left his hand resting on hers for just a moment longer than necessary. She didn't even realize how her hands were shaking until his cool fingers quickly calmed them.

"Don't worry; they'll call for you soon." He said turning back to his phone and scanning through his emails once again. She wanted to scream. At this point she was fairly certain that Derek had some form of split personality disorder. One minute he was Derek the egotistical, cold hearted director, but then, at the drop of a hat, his façade would fade and she saw a softer side of Derek. A Derek that seemed to actually care, but before she could even think straight enough to analyze, it was gone.

"Number 183, Karen Cartwright," A voice came over the PA and called. Derek stood from his seat and moved her toward the hall were a nurse was standing. She looked toward Derek after scanning though Karen's file.

"We will take Ms. Cartwright back to get an X-ray now. She will be in room 12, you can wait there." She said and began to take Karen in the direction of the X-ray machine. Suddenly she did not want to be alone. She looked, a bit frantically she thought, back toward Derek.

"I'll be in your room." He said, "Don't worry; I have no where better to be." He replied with a lopsided grin, turning to walk away. The nurse moved her toward a small stand in the hall.

"Ms. Cartwright, we are going you some pain medication now if that's alright with you." The nurse said. Karen turned away from were Derek was walking to look back up to her.

"Yes, please. That would be great." She said, taking the pill from the nurse at her stand.

"I would like to remind you that pain medication may have some side effects, we would advise you not to operate any heavy machinery under its influence." The nurse said. Karen snorted, 'yea, that's exactly what I'm gonna do when I get out of here. Go drive my bulldozer through time square; that would go over well.'

The nurse continued to move her back to get her ankle X-rayed. After having her foot torqued and pulled in most unnatural and uncomfortable positions, the films were taken and she was being pushed back toward room 12. They opened the door and, but she found the room empty. Her heart dropped to her stomach, He had left her. Why did she care so much, she pointed out to herself, she could handle herself just fine on her own. She wanted to pass it off like nothing was wrong, that she really didn't care, but after a nurse had helped her onto the bed in the room she couldn't help but ask,

"The man that was with me, Do you know where he went?" Her voice was timid.

She smiled, "Oh, your Fiancé?" She asked.

"Fiancé?" Karen countered knitting her brows together in confusion.

"Yes, he said he had to step out to make a phone call," She opened the door and turned back to Karen, "Look, here he is now." She said pointing toward an approaching figure. Karen craned her head to look out the door, only to find Derek approaching.


End file.
